Behind the Title: Not To Scale’s Santino Sladavic

CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR COMPANY?
Not To Scale, with offices in London, Amsterdam and New York, is an established production company and animation studio representing an evolving international roster of multi-disciplined filmmakers who place craft and digital animation techniques at the heart of what we do.

WHAT’S YOUR JOB TITLE?
Managing Director/Executive Producer

WHAT DOES THAT ENTAIL?
I am responsible for Not To Scale sales and operations in the USA. I manage directors, producers, artists and sales reps. I make and manage budgets, workflow, and build teams. I also empty the trash if that’s what needs to happen!

WHAT WOULD SURPRISE PEOPLE THE MOST ABOUT WHAT FALLS UNDER THAT TITLE?
My position really entails doing whatever is necessary at the given moment. Sure there are things that you do everyday like send out reels and follow up with clients, but I would say just about every day something comes up that you didn’t plan.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE JOB?
This job fits my personality. I get to work on about six projects at the same time, and it’s hard to get sick of them because they all end in six to eight weeks. I love that I get to work with amazing people, artists, marketers, IT dudes, delivery guys… you name it!

WHAT’S YOUR LEAST FAVORITE?
The biggest challenge right now is getting clients to NOT take the safe route. I feel like the industry has gotten scared to take risks and try new things because they’re afraid to lose their clients.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE TIME OF THE DAY?
Morning. I love being outside when the sun is just coming up in NYC no one else is awake. The sounds and sights of the city are beautiful and inspirational at that time.

IF YOU DIDN’T HAVE THIS JOB, WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING INSTEAD?
I would probably be working in fashion and/or entertainment… or some combination of the two.

HOW EARLY ON DID YOU KNOW THIS WOULD BE YOUR PATH?
I’d been making videos forever. I had a camera at a very early age and I brought one to college, even though I was a psych major. (Now that I think of it…there is likely still some very incrementing footage out there somewhere from my dorm days at Chico State.) By my sophomore year I realized I wanted to be a producer and to make cool things so I changed my major to Media Arts and started making my own projects in and out of school.

In college I always thought I’d work in features after graduation. But advertising just seemed to fit me better. I interviewed at a small design firm in Hollywood and at the time they were shooting on-air promos for 90210, Party of Five and Melrose Place on Fox. I loved how they used a combination of various elements like live action, graphic and VFX to tell a story. I was hooked immediately.

United Healthcare’s New Mom and Williams Martini Racing – Monza.

CAN YOU NAME SOME RECENT PROJECTS YOU HAVE WORKED ON?
I’m currently working on a project for Virgin Hotels that I’m very excited about. Other than that, I did a really cool project for Duty Free Stores with Karen Elson. Combinations of live action and really cool fashion collage elements.

WHAT IS THE PROJECT THAT YOU ARE MOST PROUD OF?
Hmmm. I’ve done some cool projects in my career. I’ve done really fun spots for Scion and Fox Sports. I think the project I’m most proud of is the Gnarls Barkley Crazy video. It won awards and was a number one hit on the pop charts at the time. It also came at a time when I was already really busy and stressed… but we knew it was going to be a hit song so we couldn’t turn down the opportunity. We shot, edited and animated everything in two weeks. I was really happy with how it turned out.

Doesn’t hurt that it has 48 million views on YouTube!

NAME THREE PIECES OF TECHNOLOGY YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT.
MacBook, iPhone and Apple TV.

WHAT SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS DO YOU FOLLOW?
Instagram, Facebook, Foursquare, Yelp (I’m a foody).

DO YOU LISTEN TO MUSIC WHILE YOU WORK? CARE TO SHARE YOUR FAVORITE MUSIC TO WORK TO?
My favorite Pandora channel is “Blue Monday,” which is also my go-to karaoke song. I also listen to quite a bit of classical mixed with electronic like Lindsey Stirling and The Piano Guys.

WHAT DO YOU DO TO DE-STRESS FROM IT ALL?
I exercise about five days a week mostly spinning and playing basketball. I’ve also been known to have a cocktail or two.